Method for integrated management of messages and electronic device implementing same

ABSTRACT

Various embodiments provide an electronic device and method therefor, the electronic device including: a display; at least one communication circuit configured to perform wireless communication with an external electronic device using one of a plurality of communication protocols; a processor electrically connected to the display and the communication circuit; and a memory electrically connected to the processor, wherein the memory stores a plurality of messaging applications for providing one of a plurality of messaging services, and the memory stores instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising: displaying a user interface on the display, in which the user interface is configured to provide, to one message thread, the plurality of messaging applications or outgoing and incoming messages associated with the plurality of messaging services; storing, in the memory, a plurality of first identifications (IDs) identifying communication with the external electronic device and/or an account associated with the external electronic device, using one of each of the plurality of messaging applications and the plurality of messaging services; storing, in the memory, at least one second ID identifying a message thread associated with communication with the external electronic device and/or an account associated with the external electronic device; receiving a new incoming message using the at least one communication circuit; and selecting a message thread for the new incoming message at least partially based on at least one of the first IDs and the second ID.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is based on and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119to Korean Application Serial No. 10-2016-0001959, which was filed in theKorean Intellectual Property Office on Jan. 7, 2016, the disclosure ofwhich is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to a method and apparatus forintegrated management of messages.

BACKGROUND

Recently, with the development of digital technology, various types ofelectronic devices such as a mobile communication terminal, a PersonalDigital Assistant (PDA), an electronic scheduler, a smart phone, atablet Personal Computer (PC), a wearable device, etc. have been widelyused. The electronic device has various functions such as a voice call,message transmission like a Short Message Service (SMS)/MultimediaMessage Service (MMS), a video call, an electronic organizer,photography, email transmission/reception, broadcast reproduction,Internet, music reproduction, schedule management, Social NetworkingService (SNS), messenger, dictionary, game, and the like.

The electronic device may use an SMS or MMS as a message transmittingmeans when transmitting a message, and provide various Instant Messenger(hereinafter, referred to as IM) services through various applications.Therefore, a user may subscribe to a desired messaging service amongvarious instant messaging services and use the same, so that range ofselection of messaging service has widened.

Although the range of selection of messaging services is widened asmessaging services have become diverse, there is an inconvenience inthat the user must select a messaging service to be used each time amessage is transmitted. Although various integrated messaging servicesare provided in order to reduce the inconvenience, there is adisadvantage in that an application for substantially integratedmanagement of messages is required to be separately installed.

SUMMARY

Various example embodiments may provide a method and apparatus which canperform an integrated management for a plurality of messaging services,and manage a conversation thread in an integrated messenger.

An electronic device according to various example embodiments mayinclude: a display; at least one communication circuit configured toperform wireless communication with an external electronic device usingone of a plurality of communication protocols; a processor electricallyconnected to the display and the communication circuit; and a memoryelectrically connected to the processor, wherein the memory stores aplurality of messaging applications for providing one of a plurality ofmessaging services, and the memory stores instructions which, whenexecuted by the processor, cause the processor to perform operationscomprising: displaying a user interface on the display, wherein the userinterface is configured to provide, to one message thread, the pluralityof messaging applications and/or outgoing and incoming messagesassociated with the plurality of messaging services; storing, in thememory, a plurality of first identifications (IDs) identifyingcommunication with the external electronic device and/or an accountassociated with the external electronic device, using one of each of theplurality of messaging applications and the plurality of messagingservices; storing, in the memory, at least one second ID identifying amessage thread associated with communication with the externalelectronic device and/or the account associated with the externalelectronic device; receiving a new incoming message using the at leastone communication circuit; and selecting a message thread for the newincoming message at least partially based on at least one of the firstIDs and the second ID.

A method of operating an electronic device according to various exampleembodiments may include: displaying a user interface that provides, toone message thread, a plurality of messaging applications and outgoingand incoming messages associated with a plurality of messaging services;storing, in a memory, a plurality of first identifications (IDs)identifying communication with the external electronic device and/or anaccount associated with the external electronic device, using one ofeach of the plurality of messaging applications and the plurality ofmessaging services; storing, in the memory, at least one second IDidentifying a message thread associated with communication with theexternal electronic device and/or an account associated with theexternal electronic device; receiving a new incoming message using atleast one communication circuit; and selecting a message thread for thenew incoming message at least partially based on at least one of thefirst IDs and the second ID.

According to various example embodiments, a plurality of messagingservices may be integrated and managed, and a conversation thread may bemanaged by an integrated messenger.

According to various example embodiments, various messaging serviceswhich are installed in an electronic device using a messengerapplication may be conveniently used.

According to various example embodiments, when a message transmission isnot performed using a first messaging service, the message isre-transmitted using a second messaging service, so that a cost burdencaused by the message retransmission can be reduced.

According to various example embodiments, a session for each messagingservice can be maintained and managed, so that a messaging service canbe continuously provided through one messenger application.

According to various example embodiments, a messenger application can beallowed to be connected to a new messaging service so as to beextensively applicable thereto.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of the presentdisclosure will be more apparent from the following detaileddescription, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, inwhich like reference numerals refer to like elements, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example electronic device within anetwork environment according to various example embodiments;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example configuration of theelectronic device according to various example embodiments;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example program moduleaccording to various example embodiments;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example network environment of anelectronic device and a server according to various example embodiments;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an example program moduleassociated with a messaging service according to various exampleembodiments;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example configuration of a tableassociated with a messaging service according to various exampleembodiments;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an example method for transmitting amessage by an electronic device according to various exampleembodiments;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an example method for determining amessaging service according to various example embodiments;

FIGS. 9A and 9B are diagrams illustrating an example user interfaceassociated with a messaging service according to various exampleembodiments;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example method for checking asession ID according to various example embodiments;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating an example method for receiving amessage by an electronic device according to various exampleembodiments; and

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example network environment forintegrated processing a plurality of messaging services according tovarious example embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Hereinafter, various example embodiments of the present disclosure willbe described with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, itshould be understood that there is no intent to limit the presentdisclosure to the particular forms disclosed herein; rather, the presentdisclosure should be construed to cover various modifications,equivalents, and/or alternatives of embodiments of the presentdisclosure. In describing the drawings, similar reference numerals maybe used to designate similar constituent elements.

As used herein, the expression “have”, “may have”, “include”, or “mayinclude” refers to the existence of a corresponding feature (e.g.,numeral, function, operation, or constituent element such as component),and does not exclude one or more additional features.

In the present disclosure, the expression “A or B”, “at least one of Aor/and B”, or “one or more of A or/and B” may include all possiblecombinations of the items listed. For example, the expression “A or B”,“at least one of A and B”, or “at least one of A or B” refers to all of(1) including at least one A, (2) including at least one B, or (3)including all of at least one A and at least one B. The expression “afirst”, “a second”, “the first”, or “the second” used in variousembodiments of the present disclosure may modify various componentsregardless of the order and/or the importance but does not limit thecorresponding components. For example, a first user device and a seconduser device indicate different user devices although both of them areuser devices. For example, a first element may be termed a secondelement, and similarly, a second element may be termed a first elementwithout departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

It should be understood that when an element (e.g., first element) isreferred to as being (operatively or communicatively) “connected,” or“coupled,” to another element (e.g., second element), it may be directlyconnected or coupled directly to the other element or any other element(e.g., third element) may be interposer between them. In contrast, itmay be understood that when an element (e.g., first element) is referredto as being “directly connected,” or “directly coupled” to anotherelement (second element), there are no element (e.g., third element)interposed between them.

The expression “configured to” used in the present disclosure may beexchanged with, for example, “suitable for”, “having the capacity to”,“designed to”, “adapted to”, “made to”, or “capable of” according to thesituation. The term “configured to” may not necessarily imply“specifically designed to” in hardware. Alternatively, in somesituations, the expression “device configured to” may refer, forexample, to a situation in which the device, together with other devicesor components, “is able to”. For example, the phrase “processor adapted(or configured) to perform A, B, and C” may refer, for example, to adedicated processor (e.g. embedded processor) only for performing thecorresponding operations or a generic-purpose processor (e.g., centralprocessing unit (CPU) or application processor (AP)) that can performthe corresponding operations by executing one or more software programsstored in a memory device.

The terms used in the present disclosure are only used to describeexample embodiments, and are not intended to limit the presentdisclosure. As used herein, singular forms may include plural forms aswell unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Unless definedotherwise, all terms used herein, including technical and scientificterms, have the same meaning as those commonly understood by a personskilled in the art to which the present disclosure pertains. Such termsas those defined in a generally used dictionary may be interpreted tohave the meanings equal to the contextual meanings in the relevant fieldof art, and are not to be interpreted to have ideal or excessivelyformal meanings unless clearly defined in the present disclosure. Insome cases, even the term defined in the present disclosure should notbe interpreted to exclude embodiments of the present disclosure.

An electronic device according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure may include at least one of, for example, a smart phone, atablet Personal Computer (PC), a mobile phone, a video phone, anelectronic book reader (e-book reader), a desktop PC, a laptop PC, anetbook computer, a workstation, a server, a Personal Digital Assistant(PDA), a Portable Multimedia Player (PMP), a MPEG-1 audio layer-3 (MP3)player, a mobile medical device, a camera, and a wearable device.According to various embodiments, the wearable device may include atleast one of an accessory type (e.g., a watch, a ring, a bracelet, ananklet, a necklace, a glasses, a contact lens, or a Head-Mounted Device(HMD)), a fabric or clothing integrated type (e.g., an electronicclothing), a body-mounted type (e.g., a skin pad, or tattoo), and abio-implantable type (e.g., an implantable circuit), or the like, but isnot limited thereto.

According to some embodiments, the electronic device may be a homeappliance. The home appliance may include at least one of, for example,a television, a Digital Video Disk (DVD) player, an audio, arefrigerator, an air conditioner, a vacuum cleaner, an oven, a microwaveoven, a washing machine, an air cleaner, a set-top box, a homeautomation control panel, a security control panel, a TV box (e.g.,Samsung HomeSync™, Apple TV™, or Google TV™), a game console (e.g.,Xbox™ and PlayStation™), an electronic dictionary, an electronic key, acamcorder, and an electronic photo frame, or the like, but is notlimited thereto.

According to another embodiment, the electronic device may include atleast one of various medical devices (e.g., various portable medicalmeasuring devices (a blood glucose monitoring device, a heart ratemonitoring device, a blood pressure measuring device, a body temperaturemeasuring device, etc.), a Magnetic Resonance Angiography (MRA), aMagnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), a Computed Tomography (CT) machine,and an ultrasonic machine), a navigation device, a Global PositioningSystem (GPS) receiver, an Event Data Recorder (EDR), a Flight DataRecorder (FDR), a Vehicle Infotainment Devices, an electronic devicesfor a ship (e.g., a navigation device for a ship, and a gyro-compass),avionics, security devices, an automotive head unit, a robot for home orindustry, an automatic teller's machine (ATM) in banks, point of sales(POS) in a shop, or internet device of things (e.g., a light bulb,various sensors, electric or gas meter, a sprinkler device, a firealarm, a thermostat, a streetlamp, a toaster, a sporting goods, a hotwater tank, a heater, a boiler, etc.), or the like, but is not limitedthereto.

According to some embodiments, the electronic device may include atleast one of a part of furniture or a building/structure, an electronicboard, an electronic signature receiving device, a projector, andvarious kinds of measuring instruments (e.g., a water meter, an electricmeter, a gas meter, and a radio wave meter), or the like, but is notlimited thereto. The electronic device according to various embodimentsof the present disclosure may be a combination of one or more of theaforementioned various devices. The electronic device according to someembodiments of the present disclosure may be a flexible device. Further,the electronic device according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure is not limited to the aforementioned devices, and may includea new electronic device according to the development of technology.

Hereinafter, an electronic device according to various embodiments willbe described with reference to the accompanying drawings. As usedherein, the term “user” may indicate a person who uses an electronicdevice or a device (e.g., an artificial intelligence electronic device)that uses an electronic device.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example network environmentincluding an electronic device according to various example embodimentsof the present disclosure.

An electronic device 101 within a network environment 100, according tovarious embodiments, will be described with reference to FIG. 1. Theelectronic device 101 may include a bus 110, a processor 120, a memory130, an input/output interface (e.g., including input/output circuitry)150, a display 160, and a communication interface (e.g., includingcommunication circuitry) 170. According to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the electronic device 101 may omit at least one of the abovecomponents or may further include other components.

The bus 110 may include, for example, a circuit which interconnects thecomponents 110 to 170 and delivers a communication (e.g., a controlmessage and/or data) between the components 110 to 170.

The processor 120 may include one or more of a Central Processing Unit(CPU), an Application Processor (AP), and a Communication Processor(CP). The processor 120 may carry out, for example, calculation or dataprocessing relating to control and/or communication of at least oneother component of the electronic device 101.

The memory 130 may include a volatile memory and/or a non-volatilememory. The memory 130 may store, for example, commands or data relevantto at least one other component of the electronic device 101. Accordingto an embodiment of the present disclosure, the memory 130 may storesoftware and/or a program 140. The program 140 may include, for example,a kernel 141, middleware 143, an Application Programming Interface (API)145, and/or application programs (or “applications”) 147. At least someof the kernel 141, the middleware 143, and the API 145 may be referredto as an Operating System (OS).

The kernel 141 may control or manage system resources (e.g., the bus110, the processor 120, or the memory 130) used for performing anoperation or function implemented in the other programs (e.g., themiddleware 143, the API 145, or the application programs 147).Furthermore, the kernel 141 may provide an interface through which themiddleware 143, the API 145, or the application programs 147 may accessthe individual components of the electronic device 101 to control ormanage the system resources.

The middleware 143, for example, may serve as an intermediary forallowing the API 145 or the application programs 147 to communicate withthe kernel 141 to exchange data.

Also, the middleware 143 may process one or more task requests receivedfrom the application programs 147 according to priorities thereof. Forexample, the middleware 143 may assign priorities for using the systemresources (e.g., the bus 110, the processor 120, the memory 130, or thelike) of the electronic device 101, to at least one of the applicationprograms 147. For example, the middleware 143 may perform scheduling orloading balancing on the one or more task requests by processing the oneor more task requests according to the priorities assigned thereto.

The API 145 is an interface through which the applications 147 controlfunctions provided from the kernel 141 or the middleware 143, and mayinclude, for example, at least one interface or function (e.g.,instruction) for file control, window control, image processing,character control, and the like.

The input/output interface 150, for example, may include variousinput/output circuitry provided to function as an interface that maytransfer commands or data input from a user or another external deviceto the other element(s) of the electronic device 101. Furthermore, theinput/output interface 150 may output the commands or data received fromthe other element(s) of the electronic device 101 to the user or anotherexternal device.

Examples of the display 160 may include a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD),a Light-Emitting Diode (LED) display, an Organic Light-Emitting Diode(OLED) display, a MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS) display, and anelectronic paper display, or the like, but is not limited thereto. Thedisplay 160 may display, for example, various types of contents (e.g.,text, images, videos, icons, or symbols) to users. The display 160 mayinclude a touch screen, and may receive, for example, a touch, gesture,proximity, or hovering input using an electronic pen or a user's bodypart.

The communication interface 170 may include various communicationcircuitry provided to establish communication, for example, between theelectronic device 101 and an external device (e.g., a first externalelectronic device 102, a second external electronic device 104, or aserver 106). For example, the communication interface 170 may beconnected to a network 162 through wireless or wired communication, andmay communicate with an external device (e.g., the second externalelectronic device 104 or the server 106). The wireless communication mayuse at least one of, for example, Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advance(LTE-A), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA),Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Wireless Broadband(WiBro), and Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), as acellular communication protocol. In addition, the wireless communicationmay include, for example, short range communication 164. The short-rangecommunication 164 may include at least one of, for example, Wi-Fi,Bluetooth, Near Field Communication (NFC), and Global NavigationSatellite System (GNSS). GNSS may include, for example, at least one ofglobal positioning system (GPS), global navigation satellite system(Glonass), Beidou Navigation satellite system (Beidou) or Galileo, andthe European global satellite-based navigation system, based on alocation, a bandwidth, or the like. Hereinafter, in the presentdisclosure, the “GPS” may be interchangeably used with the “GNSS”. Thewired communication may include, for example, at least one of aUniversal Serial Bus (USB), a High Definition Multimedia Interface(HDMI), Recommended Standard 232 (RS-232), and a Plain Old TelephoneService (POTS). The network 162 may include at least one of atelecommunication network such as a computer network (e.g., a LAN or aWAN), the Internet, and a telephone network.

Each of the first and second external electronic devices 102 and 104 maybe of a type identical to or different from that of the electronicdevice 101. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, theserver 106 may include a group of one or more servers. According tovarious embodiments of the present disclosure, all or some of theoperations performed in the electronic device 101 may be executed inanother electronic device or a plurality of electronic devices (e.g.,the electronic devices 102 and 104 or the server 106). According to anembodiment of the present disclosure, when the electronic device 101 hasto perform some functions or services automatically or in response to arequest, the electronic device 101 may request another device (e.g., theelectronic device 102 or 104 or the server 106) to execute at least somefunctions relating thereto instead of or in addition to autonomouslyperforming the functions or services. Another electronic device (e.g.,the electronic device 102 or 104, or the server 106) may execute therequested functions or the additional functions, and may deliver aresult of the execution to the electronic device 101. The electronicdevice 101 may process the received result as it is or additionally, andmay provide the requested functions or services. To this end, forexample, cloud computing, distributed computing, or client-servercomputing technologies may be used.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example electronic deviceaccording to various example embodiments of the present disclosure.

The electronic device 201 may include, for example, all or a part of theelectronic device 101 illustrated in FIG. 1. The electronic device 201may include one or more processors 210 (e.g., Application Processors(AP)), a communication module (e.g., including communication circuitry)220, a subscriber identification module (SIM) 224, a memory 230, asensor module 240, an input device (e.g., including input circuitry)250, a display 260, an interface (e.g., including interface circuitry)270, an audio module 280, a camera module 291, a power management module295, a battery 296, an indicator 297, and a motor 298.

The processor 210 may control a plurality of hardware or softwarecomponents connected to the processor 210 by driving an operating systemor an application program, and perform processing of various pieces ofdata and calculations. The processor 210 may be embodied as, forexample, a System on Chip (SoC). According to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure, the processor 210 may further include a GraphicProcessing Unit (GPU) and/or an image signal processor. The processor210 may include at least some (e.g., a cellular module 221) of thecomponents illustrated in FIG. 2. The processor 210 may load, into avolatile memory, commands or data received from at least one (e.g., anon-volatile memory) of the other components and may process the loadedcommands or data, and may store various data in a non-volatile memory.

The communication module 220 may have a configuration equal or similarto that of the communication interface 170 of FIG. 1. The communicationmodule 220 may include, various communication circuitry, such as, forexample, and without limitation, a cellular module 221, a Wi-Fi module223, a BT module 225, a GNSS module 227 (e.g., a GPS module 227, aGlonass module, a Beidou module, or a Galileo module), an NFC module228, and a Radio Frequency (RF) module 229.

The cellular module 221, for example, may provide a voice call, a videocall, a text message service, or an Internet service through acommunication network. According to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the cellular module 221 may distinguish and authenticate theelectronic device 201 in a communication network using a subscriberidentification module (e.g: SIM card) 224 (e.g., the SIM card).According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the cellularmodule 221 may perform at least some of the functions that the AP 210may provide. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, thecellular module 221 may include a communication processor (CP).

For example, each of the Wi-Fi module 223, the BT module 225, the GNSSmodule 227, and the NFC module 228 may include a processor forprocessing data transmitted/received through a corresponding module.According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, at least some(e.g., two or more) of the cellular module 221, the Wi-Fi module 223,the BT module 225, the GNSS module 227, and the NFC module 228 may beincluded in one Integrated Chip (IC) or IC package.

The RF module 229, for example, may transmit/receive a communicationsignal (e.g., an RF signal). The RF module 229 may include, for example,a transceiver, a Power Amplifier Module (PAM), a frequency filter, a LowNoise Amplifier (LNA), and an antenna. According to another embodimentof the present disclosure, at least one of the cellular module 221, theWIFI module 223, the BT module 225, the GNSS module 227, and the NFCmodule 228 may transmit/receive an RF signal through a separate RFmodule.

The subscriber identification module 224 may include, for example, acard including a subscriber identity module and/or an embedded SIM, andmay contain unique identification information (e.g., an IntegratedCircuit Card Identifier (ICCID)) or subscriber information (e.g., anInternational Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI)).

The memory 230 (e.g., the memory 130) may include, for example, anembedded memory 232 or an external memory 234. The embedded memory 232may include at least one of a volatile memory (e.g., a Dynamic RandomAccess Memory (DRAM), a Static RAM (SRAM), a Synchronous Dynamic RAM(SDRAM), and the like) and a non-volatile memory (e.g., a One TimeProgrammable Read Only Memory (OTPROM), a Programmable ROM (PROM), anErasable and Programmable ROM (EPROM), an Electrically Erasable andProgrammable ROM (EEPROM), a mask ROM, a flash ROM, a flash memory(e.g., a NAND flash memory or a NOR flash memory), a hard disc drive, aSolid State Drive (SSD), and the like).

The external memory 234 may further include a flash drive, for example,a Compact Flash (CF), a Secure Digital (SD), a Micro Secure Digital(Micro-SD), a Mini Secure Digital (Mini-SD), an eXtreme Digital (xD), aMultiMediaCard (MMC), a memory stick, or the like. The external memory234 may be functionally and/or physically connected to the electronicdevice 201 through various interfaces.

The sensor module 240, for example, may measure a physical quantity ordetect an operation state of the electronic device 201, and may convertthe measured or detected information into an electrical signal. Thesensor module 240 may include, for example, at least one of a gesturesensor 240A, a gyro sensor 240B, an atmospheric pressure sensor(barometer) 240C, a magnetic sensor 240D, an acceleration sensor 240E, agrip sensor 240F, a proximity sensor 240G; a color sensor 240H (e.g.,red, green, and blue (RGB) sensor), a biometric sensor (medical sensor)240I, a temperature/humidity sensor 240J, an illuminance (e.g., light)sensor 240K, a Ultra Violet (UV) sensor 240M and an ultrasonic sensor240N. Additionally or alternatively, the sensor module 240 may include,for example, an E-nose sensor, an electromyography (EMG) sensor, anelectroencephalogram (EEG) sensor, an electrocardiogram (ECG) sensor, anInfrared (IR) sensor, an iris scan sensor, and/or a finger scan sensor.The sensor module 240 may further include a control circuit forcontrolling one or more sensors included therein. According to anembodiment of the present disclosure, the electronic device 201 mayfurther include a processor configured to control the sensor module 240,as a part of the processor 210 or separately from the processor 210, andmay control the sensor module 240 while the processor 210 is in a sleepstate.

The input device 250 may include various input circuitry, such as, forexample, and without limitation, a touch panel 252, a (digital) pensensor 254, a key 256, or an ultrasonic input device 258. The touchpanel 252 may use, for example, at least one of a capacitive type, aresistive type, an infrared type, and an ultrasonic type. The touchpanel 252 may further include a control circuit. The touch panel 252 mayfurther include a tactile layer, and provide a tactile reaction to theuser.

The (digital) pen sensor 254 may include, for example, a recognitionsheet which is a part of the touch panel or is separated from the touchpanel. The key 256 may include, for example, a physical button, anoptical key or a keypad. The ultrasonic input device 258 may detect,through a microphone (e.g., the microphone 288), ultrasonic wavesgenerated by an input tool, and identify data corresponding to thedetected ultrasonic waves.

The display 260 (e.g., the display 160) may include a panel 262, ahologram device 264, or a projector 266. The panel 262 may include aconfiguration identical or similar to the display 160 illustrated inFIG. 1. The panel 262 may be implemented to be, for example, flexible,transparent, or wearable. The panel 262 may be embodied as a singlemodule with the touch panel 252. The hologram device 264 may show athree dimensional (3D) image in the air by using an interference oflight. The projector 266 may project light onto a screen to display animage. The screen may be located, for example, in the interior of or onthe exterior of the electronic device 201. According to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure, the display 260 may further include a controlcircuit for controlling the panel 262, the hologram device 264, or theprojector 266.

The interface 270 may include various interface circuitry, such as, forexample, and without limitation, a High-Definition Multimedia Interface(HDMI) 272, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) 274, an optical interface 276,or a D-subminiature (D-sub) 278. The interface 270 may be included in,for example, the communication interface 170 illustrated in FIG. 1.Additionally or alternatively, the interface 270 may include, forexample, a Mobile High-definition Link (MHL) interface, a Secure Digital(SD) card/Multi-Media Card (MMC) interface, or an Infrared DataAssociation (IrDA) standard interface.

The audio module 280, for example, may bilaterally convert a sound andan electrical signal. At least some components of the audio module 280may be included in, for example, the input/output interface 150illustrated in FIG. 1. The audio module 280 may process voiceinformation input or output through, for example, a speaker 282, areceiver 284, earphones 286, or the microphone 288.

The camera module 291 is, for example, a device which may photograph astill image and a video. According to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the camera module 291 may include one or more image sensors(e.g., a front sensor or a back sensor), a lens, an Image SignalProcessor (ISP) or a flash (e.g., LED or xenon lamp).

The power management module 295 may manage, for example, power of theelectronic device 201. According to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the power management module 295 may include a PowerManagement Integrated Circuit (PMIC), a charger Integrated Circuit (IC),or a battery or fuel gauge. The PMIC may use a wired and/or wirelesscharging method. Examples of the wireless charging method may include,for example, a magnetic resonance method, a magnetic induction method,an electromagnetic wave method, and the like. Additional circuits (e.g.,a coil loop, a resonance circuit, a rectifier, etc.) for wirelesscharging may be further included. The battery gauge may measure, forexample, a residual quantity of the battery 296, and a voltage, acurrent, or a temperature while charging. The battery 296 may include,for example, a rechargeable battery and/or a solar battery.

The indicator 297 may display a particular state (e.g., a booting state,a message state, a charging state, or the like) of the electronic device201 or a part (e.g., the processor 210) of the electronic device 201.The motor 298 may convert an electrical signal into a mechanicalvibration, and may generate a vibration, a haptic effect, or the like.Although not illustrated, the electronic device 201 may include aprocessing device (e.g., a GPU) for supporting a mobile TV. Theprocessing device for supporting a mobile TV may process, for example,media data according to a certain standard such as Digital MultimediaBroadcasting (DMB), Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB), or mediaFLO™.

Each of the above-described component elements of hardware according tothe present disclosure may be configured with one or more components,and the names of the corresponding component elements may vary based onthe type of electronic device. In various embodiments, the electronicdevice may include at least one of the above-described elements. Some ofthe above-described elements may be omitted from the electronic device,or the electronic device may further include additional elements. Also,some of the hardware components according to various embodiments may becombined into one entity, which may perform functions identical to thoseof the relevant components before the combination.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example program moduleaccording to various example embodiments of the present disclosure.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the program module310 (e.g., the program 140) may include an Operating System (OS) forcontrolling resources related to the electronic device (e.g., theelectronic device 101) and/or various applications (e.g., theapplication programs 147) executed in the operating system. Theoperating system may be, for example, Android™, iOS™, Windows™,Symbian™, Tizen™, Bada™, or the like.

The program module 310 may include a kernel 320, middleware 330, an API360, and/or applications 370. At least some of the program module 310may be preloaded on an electronic device, or may be downloaded from anexternal electronic device (e.g., the electronic device 102 or 104, orthe server 106).

The kernel 320 (e.g., the kernel 141) may include, for example, a systemresource manager 321 and/or a device driver 323. The system resourcemanager 321 may control, allocate, or collect system resources.According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the systemresource manager 321 may include a process management unit, a memorymanagement unit, a file system management unit, and the like. The devicedriver 323 may include, for example, a display driver, a camera driver,a Bluetooth driver, a shared memory driver, a USB driver, a keypaddriver, a Wi-Fi driver, an audio driver, or an Inter-ProcessCommunication (IPC) driver.

For example, the middleware 330 may provide a function required incommon by the applications 370, or may provide various functions to theapplications 370 through the API 360 so as to enable the applications370 to efficiently use the limited system resources in the electronicdevice. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, themiddleware 330 (e.g., the middleware 143) may include at least one of arun time library 335, an application manager 341, a window manager 342,a multimedia manager 343, a resource manager 344, a power manager 345, adatabase manager 346, a package manager 347, a connectivity manager 348,a notification manager 349, a location manager 350, a graphic manager351, and a security manager 352.

The runtime library 335 may include a library module that a compileruses in order to add a new function through a programming language whilean application 370 is being executed. The runtime library 335 mayperform input/output management, memory management, the functionalityfor an arithmetic function, or the like.

The application manager 341 may manage, for example, a life cycle of atleast one of the applications 370. The window manager 342 may manageGraphical User Interface (GUI) resources used by a screen. Themultimedia manager 343 may recognize a format required for reproductionof various media files, and may perform encoding or decoding of a mediafile by using a codec suitable for the corresponding format. Theresource manager 344 may manage resources of a source code, a memory,and a storage space of at least one of the applications 370.

The power manager 345 may operate together with, for example, a BasicInput/Output System (BIOS) or the like to manage a battery or powersource and may provide power information or the like required for theoperations of the electronic device. The database manager 346 maygenerate, search for, and/or change a database to be used by at leastone of the applications 370. The package manager 347 may manageinstallation or an update of an application distributed in a form of apackage file.

For example, the connectivity manager 348 may manage wirelessconnectivity such as Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. The notification manager 349may display or notify of an event such as an arrival message, promise,proximity notification, and the like in such a way that does not disturba user. The location manager 350 may manage location information of anelectronic device. The graphic manager 351 may manage a graphic effectwhich will be provided to a user, or a user interface related to thegraphic effect. The security manager 352 may provide all securityfunctions required for system security, user authentication, or thelike. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, when theelectronic device (e.g., the electronic device 101) has a telephone callfunction, the middleware 330 may further include a telephony manager formanaging a voice call function or a video call function of theelectronic device.

The middleware 330 may include a middleware module that forms acombination of various functions of the above-described components. Themiddleware 330 may provide a module specialized for each type of OS inorder to provide a differentiated function. Further, the middleware 330may dynamically remove some of the existing components or add newcomponents.

The API 360 (e.g., the API 145) is, for example, a set of APIprogramming functions, and may be provided with a differentconfiguration according to an OS. For example, in the case of Android oriOS, one API set may be provided for each platform. In the case ofTizen, two or more API sets may be provided for each platform.

The applications 370 (e.g., the application programs 147) may include,for example, one or more applications which may provide functions suchas a home 371, a dialer 372, an SMS/MMS 373, an Instant Message (IM)374, a browser 375, a camera 376, an alarm 377, contacts 378, a voicedial 379, an email 380, a calendar 381, a media player 382, an album383, a clock 384, health care (e.g., measuring exercise quantity orblood sugar), or environment information (e.g., providing atmosphericpressure, humidity, or temperature information), not shown.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the applications370 may include an application (hereinafter, referred to as an“information exchange application” for convenience of description) thatsupports exchanging information between the electronic device (e.g., theelectronic device 101) and an external electronic device (e.g., theelectronic device 102 or 104). The information exchange application mayinclude, for example, a notification relay application for transferringspecific information to an external electronic device or a devicemanagement application for managing an external electronic device.

For example, the notification relay application may include a functionof transferring, to the external electronic device (e.g., the electronicdevice 102 or 104), notification information generated from otherapplications of the electronic device 101 (e.g., an SMS/MMS application,an e-mail application, a health management application, or anenvironmental information application). Further, the notification relayapplication may receive notification information from, for example, anexternal electronic device and provide the received notificationinformation to a user.

The device management application may manage (e.g., install, delete, orupdate), for example, at least one function of an external electronicdevice (e.g., the electronic device 102 or 104) communicating with theelectronic device (e.g., a function of turning on/off the externalelectronic device itself (or some components) or a function of adjustingthe brightness (or a resolution) of the display), applications operatingin the external electronic device, and services provided by the externalelectronic device (e.g., a call service or a message service).

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the applications370 may include applications (e.g., a health care application of amobile medical appliance or the like) designated according to anexternal electronic device (e.g., attributes of the electronic device102 or 104). According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, theapplications 370 may include an application received from an externalelectronic device (e.g., the server 106, or the electronic device 102 or104). According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, theapplications 370 may include a preloaded application or a third partyapplication that may be downloaded from a server. The names of thecomponents of the program module 310 of the illustrated embodiment ofthe present disclosure may change according to the type of operatingsystem.

According to various embodiments, at least a part of the programmingmodule 310 may be implemented in software, firmware, hardware, or acombination of two or more thereof. At least some of the program module310 may be implemented (e.g., executed) by, for example, the processor(e.g., the processor 210). At least some of the program module 310 mayinclude, for example, a module, a program, a routine, a set ofinstructions, and/or a process for performing one or more functions.

The term “module” as used herein may, for example, refer to a unitincluding one of hardware, software, and firmware or a combination oftwo or more of them. The “module” may be interchangeably used with, forexample, the term “unit”, “logic”, “logical block”, “component”, or“circuit”. The “module” may be a minimum unit of an integrated componentelement or a part thereof. The “module” may be a minimum unit forperforming one or more functions or a part thereof. The “module” may bemechanically or electronically implemented. For example, the “module”according to the present disclosure may include at least one ofprocessing circuitry, an Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC)chip, a Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA), and a programmable-logicdevice for performing operations which has been known or are to bedeveloped hereinafter.

According to various embodiments, at least some of the devices (e.g.,modules or functions thereof) or the method (e.g., operations) accordingto the present disclosure may be implemented by a command stored in acomputer-readable storage medium in a programming module form. Theinstruction, when executed by a processor (e.g., the processor 120), maycause the one or more processors to execute the function correspondingto the instruction. The computer-readable recoding media may be, forexample, the memory 130.

The electronic device described below may be the electronic device 101of FIG. 1 or the electronic device 201 of FIG. 2. However, forconvenience of explanation, the electronic device described below may bedescribed as the electronic device 101 of FIG. 1. However, theelectronic device is not necessarily limited to the electronic device101 of FIG. 1 by the description.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example network environment of anelectronic device and a server according to various example embodiments.

Referring to FIG. 4, according to an example embodiment of the presentdisclosure, a message integrated management system 440 may include amessage transmission and reception server 441 and a message accountserver 442. The message transmission and reception server 441 may serveas a server for transmitting and receiving messages, and provide amessage transmission and reception function, a function of checkingwhether the message transmission and reception is successful, a functionof checking whether the message is received by the recipient, and thelike. The message account server 442 may serve as a server for managingusers who have subscribed to a messaging service (or a messengerservice), and provide functions such as subscription, accountmanagement, and checking whether the subscription has been made.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the messageintegrated management system 440 may provide a messenger application (ora messaging application), and provide a function associated with messagetransmission and reception through the messenger application. Forexample, the messenger application may serve to allow different types ofmessaging services to be used through a single application. For example,the messenger application may refer to an application which can provideboth a message transmitted or received using a first messaging serviceand a message transmitted or received using a second messaging service.When the message transmission is not available using the first messagingservice, the messenger application may transmit the message using thesecond messaging service.

According to various embodiments, the messenger application may bebasically provided while being installed in the electronic device 101when the electronic device (for example, the electronic device 101 ofFIG. 1 or the electronic device 201 of FIG. 2) is manufactured. Forexample, after purchasing the electronic device 101, a user may transmitor receive a message through the messenger application without aseparate installation thereof.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the messengerapplication may be installed in the electronic device 101 according tothe user's selection. In this case, the messenger application may be anapplication that is not basically installed in the electronic device 101but is required to be separately installed after the user purchased theelectronic device 101. The fact of whether the messenger application isbasically installed in the electronic device 101 or not corresponds onlyto various embodiments of the present disclosure, and the presentdisclosure is not necessarily limited to these embodiments.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, although themessage transmission and reception server 441 and the message accountserver 442 are illustrated separately in drawings, the messagetransmission and reception server 441 may also perform a function of themessage account server 442. Alternatively, the message account server442 may also perform a function of the message transmission andreception server 441. In this case, the message integrated managementsystem 440 may include only the message transmission and receptionserver 441, or may include only the message account server 442.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the messageaccount server 442 may assign a session ID to each messaging service.For example, in a case of an IP-based message (for example, RichCommunications Services (RCS) message), a session connection may berequired for the message transmission and reception. The message accountserver 442 may assign session identification (ID) to each messagingservice for the message transmission and reception. The assigned sessionID may be transmitted to electronic devices (for example, the firstelectronic device 410 and the second electronic device 420), which makea request for the transmission or reception of the message. The messageaccount server 442 may generate a session ID based on a messagingservice for assigning the session ID and an electronic device (forexample, a phone number of the electronic device) which makes a requestfor the generation of a session ID. The message account server 442 maystore the generated session ID in a database, and transmit the generatedsession ID to the electronic device which made a request for the sessionID generation. For example, the database may store a session ID for eachmessaging service in connection with the phone number of the electronicdevice. Alternatively, the database may store a session ID for eachphone number of the electronic device in connection with the messagingservice.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, when the firstelectronic device 410 makes a request for the message transmission, themessage account server 442 may notify the first electronic device 410 ofwhether a message reception by the second electronic device 420 ispossible using a messaging service (for example, the first messagingservice) that has requested the message transmission. For example, themessage account server 442 may determine whether the session ID for thefirst messaging service is stored in the database, with reference to thedatabase, so that the message account server 442 may determine whether amessage reception by the second electronic device 420 using the firstmessaging service is possible.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the messagetransmission and reception server 441 may receive a message from thefirst electronic device 410 through the network 430, and transmit thereceived message to the second electronic device 420. The messagetransmission and reception server 441 may check whether the message hasbeen successfully transmitted to the second electronic device 420. Themessage transmission and reception server 441 may notify the firstelectronic device 410 of whether the message has been successfullytransmitted to the second electronic device 420.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the firstelectronic device 410 may be an electronic device of a sender, and maybe a device for transmitting the message through the messengerapplication. The first electronic device 410 may store a conversationthread table and a session table in a memory (for example, the memory130). The conversation thread table may store a thread ID correspondingto a counterpart's phone number (for example, the phone number of thesecond electronic device 420). The session table may store a type of amessaging service and a session ID corresponding to the thread ID. Thefirst electronic device 410 may assign one thread ID per counterpart'sphone number. The counterpart's phone number may be an identificationnumber of an electronic device, and include at least one ofInternational Mobile Station Identity (IMSI), Temporary MobileSubscriber Identity (TMSI), Mobile Identification Number (MIN), MobileStation International ISDN Number (MSISDN), International MobileEquipment Identity (IMEI), Personal Identification number (PIN), orheader field information of P-Associated-Uniform Resource Identifiers(URI). In addition, the counterpart's phone number may include variousembodiments which may be used according to a communication standard or aservice provider's policy. The Session ID may be assigned from themessage account server 442, and one ID may be assigned to one messagingservice corresponding to the thread ID. The session ID may be associatedwith a phone number.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the firstelectronic device 410 may determine a messaging service to be used formessage transmission in consideration of a messaging service that can beused by a sender or recipient. The first electronic device 410 mayrequest the second electronic device 420 for the message transmissionusing a messaging service determined through the network 430. Inresponse to the message transmission request, the first electronicdevice 410 may receive whether a message reception by the secondelectronic device 420 is possible, from the message account server 442.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the firstelectronic device 410 may transmit a message to the message transmissionand reception server 441 and determine another messaging service basedon whether the message reception is possible. For example, when themessage reception by second electronic device 420 which uses thedetermined messaging service (for example, the first messaging service)is possible, the first electronic device 410 may transmit the messageusing the determined messaging service. When the message reception bythe second electronic device 420 which uses the determined messagingservice (for example, the first messaging service) is not possible, thefirst electronic device 410 may transmit the message using a differentmessaging service (for example, the second messaging service).

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, when transmittingthe message, the first electronic device 410 may also transmit a sessionID corresponding to a messaging service which is determined to transmitthe message. For example, the first electronic device 410 may searchfor, from the search table, a thread ID of the second electronic device420 and a session ID corresponding to the determined messaging service.If the session ID is not retrieved, the first electronic device 410 mayrequest for the generation of a session ID to the message account server442. In response to the session ID generation request, the firstelectronic device 410 may receive the session ID from the messageaccounting server 442 and store the received session ID in the sessiontable. The first electronic device 410 may transmit the message alongwith the session ID stored in the session table.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the secondelectronic device 420 may be an electronic device of a recipient, andmay be a device for receiving the message through the messengerapplication. The second electronic device 420 may store a conversationthread table and a session table in a memory (for example, the memory130). The conversation thread table may store a thread ID correspondingto a counterpart's phone number (for example, a phone number of thefirst electronic device 410). The session table may store a type of amessaging service and a session ID corresponding to the thread ID. Thesecond electronic device 420 may assign one thread ID per counterpart'sphone number. The Session ID may be assigned from the message accountserver 442, and one ID may be assigned to one messaging servicecorresponding to the thread ID.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, when receiving amessage from the first electronic device 410 through the network 430,the second electronic device 420 may acquire session information (forexample, a session ID) from the received message and display thereceived message based on the acquired session information. For example,the second electronic device 420 may obtain a thread ID corresponding toa session ID from the session table, and execute a messaging servicecorresponding to the acquired thread ID. The second electronic device420 may display the received message on a chat window (for example, amessage thread) of the executed messaging service.

According to various embodiments, when session information has not beenacquired from the received message, the second electronic device 420 mayperform a process for generating session information or perform aprocess for generating thread information. For example, the secondelectronic device 420 may determine whether the phone number of thefirst electronic device 410 is stored in the conversation thread table.When the phone number of the first electronic device 410 is stored inthe conversation thread table, the second electronic device 420 mayacquire a thread ID corresponding to the phone number of the firstelectronic device 410. The second electronic device 420 may execute amessaging service corresponding to the acquired thread ID, and displaythe received message on a chat window (for example, a message thread) ofthe executed messaging service. In addition, the second electronicdevice 420 may make a request for generation of a session ID to themessage account server 442 and receive the session ID from the messageaccount server 442.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, when the phonenumber of the first electronic device 410 is not stored in theconversation thread table, the second electronic device 420 may assign anew thread ID to the phone number of the first electronic device 410.The second electronic device 420 may execute a messaging servicecorresponding to the new thread ID, and display the received message ona chat window (for example, a message thread) of the executed messagingservice. The second electronic device 420 may store the assigned threadID in the conversation thread table so as to correspond to the phonenumber of the first electronic device 410. In addition, the secondelectronic device 420 may make a request for generation of a session IDto the message account server 442 and receive the session ID from themessage account server 442.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an example program moduleassociated with a messaging service according to various exampleembodiments.

Referring to FIG. 5, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, the program module 500 associated with a messaging servicemay include a messenger application 510, a communication serviceframework 520, and a network service 530. The program module 500associated with the messaging service is to describe a program moduleassociated with the “messaging service” in detail, and the basicconfiguration of the program module may be the same as or similar to theprogram module 310 of FIG. 3. That is, although not shown, the programmodule 500 may further include an API (for example, the API 360 of FIG.3) and a kernel (for example, the kernel 320 of FIG. 3).

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the messengerapplication 510 may refer to an application for providing a messagingservice. The messenger application 510 may display a conversationcounterpart (for example, a counterpart name, a counterpart phonenumber, etc.) and a conversation thread, and display messages exchangedwith the conversation counterpart when the conversation thread isselected. The conversation thread may refer to any one of a message listincluding a plurality of messages, which is arranged as a conversationcounterpart. The conversation counterpart, the conversation thread, orthe message may be deleted. The messenger application 510 may displayinformation on an individual or a conversation counterpart. Themessenger application 510 may display a result of processing so as tocorrespond to a user input. The messenger application 510 may display auser interface or user experience interface associated with a message.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the messengerapplication 510 may allow different types of messaging services to beused through a single application. For example, the messengerapplication 510 may refer to an application which can provide both amessage transmitted or received using a first messaging service and amessage transmitted or received using a second messaging service. Whenthe message transmission is not possible by using the first messagingservice, the messenger application 510 may transmit the message by usingthe second messaging service. The messenger application 510 may bebasically provided while being mounted on the electronic device 101 whenthe electronic device 101 is manufactured. Alternatively, the messengerapplication 510 may be installed in the electronic device 101 accordingto the user's selection.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the communicationservice framework 520 may be a framework for providing a messagingservice, and correspond to the middleware 330 or kernel 320 of FIG. 3.The communication service framework 520 may include a message manager521, a session manager 522, and a retransmission manager 523. Themessage manager 521 may be a module for a messaging service. Forexample, the message manager 521 may provide a messaging service such asRCS, Short Message Service (SMS)/Multimedia Message Service (MIMS), orInstant Messenger (IM), and may be connected in a plug-in type when anapplication for a messaging service is installed.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, in order toperform an operation of grouping messages for each conversation threadand managing the same, the session manager 522 may manage a thread ID, atype of a messaging service used in the conversation thread, and thesession ID of the messaging service used in the conversation thread. Thesession manager 522 may assign one thread ID per counterpart's phonenumber. The session manager 522 may store the assigned thread ID in theconversation thread table so as to correspond to the counterpart's phonenumber. In addition, the session manager 522 may store, in the sessiontable, the messaging service type used in the conversation thread andthe session ID of the messaging service used in the conversation thread.When there is no session ID corresponding to the messaging service usedin the conversation thread, the session manager 522 may request forgeneration of a session ID to the message account server 442.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, when a messagetransmission has failed, the retransmission manager 523 may selectanother messaging service and transmit the message. For example, theretransmission manager 523 may select an appropriate messaging servicein consideration of the priority assigned to a messaging service or theusability thereof. For example, when message transmission using thefirst messaging service has failed, the retransmission manager 523 mayselect a second messaging service. Alternatively, the retransmissionmanager 523 may select, based on the priority, a first messaging servicehaving the highest priority (for example, the first priority). Whenmessage transmission using the first messaging service has failed, theretransmission manager 523 may select a second messaging service havingthe second highest priority.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the networkservice 530 may provide a service that can communicate with an externaldevice (for example, the electronic device 102 and electronic device104). The network service 530 may be a subject for transmitting amessage, and may be, for example, a communication module (for example,the communication interface 170 of FIG. 1 or the communication module220 of FIG. 2). The network service 530 may transmit a message to amessaging service determined in the communication service framework 520.

An electronic device described below may include a program moduleillustrated in FIG. 5.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example configuration of a tableassociated with a messaging service according to various exampleembodiments.

Referring to FIG. 6, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, a conversation thread table 610 may include a thread ID 611and conversation counterpart information 612 corresponding to the threadID 611. The thread ID 611 may be assigned in a one-to-one method tocorrespond to the conversation counterpart information 612. For example,the thread ID 611 may be numbers and be described in various forms suchas letters, symbols, etc. as well as numbers. The conversationcounterpart information 612 may be address information on theconversation counterpart, for example, a counterpart's phone number (forexample, 010-1234-5678, 010-3456-7890, etc.). When transmitting orreceiving a message, the processor 120 of the electronic device 101 maycheck the thread ID 611 corresponding to the counterpart's phone number,and when there is no thread ID 611 corresponding to the counterpart'sphone number, the electronic device 101 may generate the thread ID 611.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the session table620 may include a type of a messaging service 622 and session ID 623 foreach thread ID 621. The session table 620 may include one or moremessaging service types 622 and session IDs 623 for each thread ID 621.For example, the session table 620 may include a type of a messagingservice RCS, IM#1, and IM#2 corresponding to the thread ID 621 of ‘1’,include the session ID 623 of ‘1233123458’ corresponding to themessaging service type ‘RCS’, include the session ID 623 of ‘12abbdz56p’corresponding to the messaging service type ‘IM#1’, and include sessionID 623 ‘2333440090’ corresponding to the messaging service types of‘IM#2’. This may indicate that a user corresponding to counterpart'sphone number ‘010-1234-5678’ is engaged in a conversation through threetypes of messaging services.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the processor 120of the electronic device 101 may check a messaging service availablewhen transmitting or receiving a message, and when there is no sessionID for the messaging service, the processor 120 may request for thegeneration of a session ID to the message account server 442. When thegenerated session ID is received from the message account server 442,the processor 120 may store the received session ID in the session table620. When storing the session ID, the processor 120 may also store atype of a messaging service and a thread ID corresponding to the sessionID.

An electronic device according to various embodiments may include: adisplay; at least one communication circuit configured to performwireless communication with an external electronic device using one of aplurality of communication protocols; a processor electrically connectedto the display and the communication circuit; and a memory electricallyconnected to the processor, wherein the memory stores a plurality ofmessaging applications for providing one of a plurality of messagingservices, and the memory stores instructions which, when executed by aprocessor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:displaying a user interface on the display, wherein the user interfaceis configured to provide, to one message thread, the plurality ofmessaging applications and/or outgoing and incoming messages associatedwith the plurality of messaging services; storing, in the memory, aplurality of first identifications (IDs) identifying communication withthe external electronic device and/or an account associated with theexternal electronic device, using one of each of the plurality ofmessaging applications and the plurality of messaging services; storing,in the memory, at least one second ID identifying a message threadassociated with communication with the external electronic device and/oran account associated with the external electronic device; receiving anew incoming message using the at least one communication circuit; andselecting a message thread for the new incoming message based on atleast a part of the first IDs and the second ID.

The first ID may include a session ID, and the second ID may include athread ID.

The thread ID may be associated with a phone number.

The phone number may include at least one of: International MobileStation Identity (IMSI), Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity (TMSI),Mobile Identification Number (MIN), Mobile Station International ISDNNumber (MSISDN), International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI),Personal Identification number (PIN), and header field information ofP-Associated-Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI).

The session ID may be associated with a phone number.

The plurality of messaging services may include two or more of SMS,MIMS, Instant Messaging, and RCS.

The processor may be configured to determine a messaging service fortransmitting an outgoing message among the plurality of messagingservices, to check whether a message reception by the counterpartelectronic device of a counterpart phone number which will receive theoutgoing message is possible, using the determined messaging serviceamong a plurality of messaging services, and to determine anothermessaging service when the message reception using the determinedmessaging service is not possible.

The processor may be configured to check whether the transmitted messageis received by a counterpart electronic device, and to determine anothermessaging service when the transmitted message is not received by thecounterpart electronic device.

The processor may be configured to determine the messaging service basedon a user determination method, and the user determination method may beconfigured to receive a messaging service based on a received selectionwhen the message transmission is requested, or configured to determinethe messaging service based on the priority previously determined by theuser.

The processor may be configured to determine the messaging service basedon an automatic determination method, and the automatic determinationmethod may be configured to arbitrarily select one messaging service orselect the messaging service based on a predetermined condition, or todetermine a messaging service based on the number of times the messagingservices have been used by the plurality of users, the number of timesthe messaging services have been used by the user, a messaging servicerecently used by the user, or a new messaging service.

A message is received from a counterpart electronic device, theprocessor may be configured to acquire session information from thereceived message, to acquire second ID based on the acquired sessioninformation, and to display the received message on a message threadcorresponding to the second ID.

When the session information in the memory does not exist, the processormay be configured to determine whether conversation counterpartinformation associated with the counterpart electronic device exists inthe conversation thread table, and to acquire second ID corresponding tothe conversation counterpart information stored in the conversationthread table.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an example message transmissionmethod by an electronic device according to various example embodiments.

Referring to FIG. 7, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure, in operation 701, the electronic device 101 (e.g., theprocessor 120) may receive a message transmission request. When the userenters a message content and a counterpart's phone number to which amessage will be received, and then presses a button corresponding to“transmission” and “Check?”, the processor 120 may determine that arequest for message transmission has been made.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, in operation 703,the processor 120 may determine a messaging service. For example, theprocessor 120 may determine the messaging service using a userdetermination method or an automatic determination method. The userdetermination method may be two. In operation 701, the user may select amessaging service to which the message will be sent when entering themessage content and counterpart's phone number. In this case, thedetermined messaging service may be a messaging service selected by theuser. Alternatively, the user may previously set the priorities formessaging services, and the processor 120 may determine a messagingservice based on the priorities. For example, the user may set a highpriority for the user's most favorite messaging service or mostfrequently used messaging service. When the priorities are set formessaging services, an application corresponding to the messagingservice may be installed or not in the electronic device 101. Theprocessor 120 may determine a messaging service in the order of higherpriorities.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the automaticdetermination method may allow the processor 120 to determine onemessaging service. The processor 120 may determine a messaging serviceby considering the user usability of the messaging service. For example,the processor 120 may determine a messaging service at least partiallybased on the number of times the messaging services have been used bythe plurality of users, the number of times the messaging services havebeen used by the user, a messaging service recently used by the user, ora new messaging service. The number of times the messaging services havebeen used by the plurality of users may define the most frequently usedmessaging service by the plurality of users. The number of times themessaging services have been used by the user may define the mostfrequently used messaging service by the user. Alternatively, theprocessor 120 may determine a messaging service based on a condition setby default to the electronic device 101 that is being manufactured.Alternatively, the processor 120 may arbitrarily determine one messagingservice among messaging services of a messenger application installed inthe electronic device 101.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, in operation 705,the processor 120 may check whether message reception by a counterpartelectronic device (for example, the second electronic device 420) whichuses the determined messaging service is possible. To this end, theprocessor 120 may transmit, to the message account server 442, acounterpart's phone number and information (for example, a session ID)on the determined messaging service, through the communication interface170. The message account server 442 may determine whether acorresponding session ID exists in the counterpart's phone number so asto determine whether the message reception by the counterpart electronicdevice is possible. The message account server 442 may transmit, to theelectronic device 101, whether the message reception is possible basedon whether the session ID corresponding to the counterpart's phonenumber exists. The processor 120 may receive whether the messagereception is possible from the message account server 442.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, in operation 707,the processor 120 may determine whether the message reception ispossible based on whether the message reception by the counterpartelectronic device is possible. For example, when the message receptionby the counterpart electronic device (for example, the second electronicdevice 420) which uses the determined messaging service (for example,the first messaging service) is possible, the processor 120 may performan operation 709, and when the message reception by the counterpartelectronic device which uses the determined messaging service is notpossible, the processor 120 may perform an operation 721.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, in operation 721,the processor 120 may determine whether a ‘message re-transmission’ isset in the electronic device 101. When the ‘message re-transmission’ isset, the processor may determine that the message re-transmissions isallowed, and return to an operation 722. Alternatively, when the‘message re-transmission’ is not set, the processor may perform anoperation 723 so as not to perform the message re-transmission.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, in operation 722,when the “message re-transmission” is set, the processor may determinewhether there is another selectable messaging service (for example, thesecond messaging service) other than the determined messaging service(for example, the first messaging service). When there is anotherselectable messaging service, the processor 120 may return to theoperation 703, and when there is no messaging service to be selected,the processor 120 may perform the operation 723. According to variousembodiments, when returning to operation 703, the processor 120 mayselect a messaging service (for example, the second messaging service)different from the first selected messaging service (for example, thefirst messaging service). The processor 120 may perform the operation705 and operation 707 after selecting the second messaging service. Atthis time, upon performing the operation 721 and then returning to theoperation 703, the processor 120 may select a messaging service (forexample, a third messaging service) different from the secondly selectedmessaging service (for example, the second messaging service). Theprocessor 120 may perform the operation 705 and the operation 707 afterselecting the third messaging service. At this time, when the operation721 is performed and there is no other selectable messaging service, theprocessor 120 may perform the operation 723.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, in operation 723,the processor 120 may determine that the message transmission hasfailed. For example, the processor 120 may display a user interfaceassociated with the message transmission failure. The user interfaceassociated with the message transmission failure may be displayed as apop-up window. Alternatively, the user interface associated with themessage transmission failure may display, on a message transmissionwindow, a message notifying of the message transmission failure (e.g.,{circle around (x)} message transmission has failed.). The processor 120may be terminated after processing the message transfer failure.According to various embodiments, the processor 120 may receive aretransmission request from the user on the user interface associatedwith the message transmission failure. In this case, the processor 120may interpret the retransmission request as the message transmissionrequest of operation 701, and perform the operation 703.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, in operation 709,the processor 120 may check a session ID. The processor 120 may searchfor a session ID corresponding to the determined messaging service froma session table (for example, the session table 620). When a session IDcorresponding to the determined messaging service is retrieved from thesession table, the processor 120 may check the retrieved session ID.When a session ID corresponding to the determined messaging service isnot retrieved from the session table, the processor 120 may request forgeneration of a session ID to the message account server 442. Inresponse to the session ID generation request, the processor 120 mayreceive the session ID from the message accounting server 442 and storethe received session ID in the session table. The processor 120 maycheck the session ID stored in the session table.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, in operation 711,the processor 120 may transmit a message including the checked sessionID. For example, the processor 120 may transmit a message including amessage content, a counterpart's phone number, and a session ID. Theprocessor 120 may transmit the message to the message transmission andreception server 441 through the communication interface 170.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the messagetransmission server 441 may transmit the message to the counterpartelectronic device (for example, the second electronic device 420)corresponding to the counterpart phone number. The message may include amessage content, a counterpart's phone number (for example, the phonenumber of the first electronic device 410), a messaging service, and asession ID. The message transmission and reception server 441 may checkwhether the message has been successfully transmitted to the secondelectronic device 420. The message transmission and reception server 441may notify the first electronic device 410 of whether the message hasbeen successfully transmitted to the second electronic device 420.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, in operation 713,the processor 120 may receive a result of message transmission from themessage transmission and reception server 441. According to variousembodiments, the processor 120 may receive whether the message ischecked by the counterpart from the message transmission and receptionserver 441.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, in operation 715,the processor 120 may return to the operation 703 or perform theoperation 717 based on the message transmission result. For example,when the message transmission result is ‘successful’, the processor 120may perform the operation 717. Alternatively, when the messagetransmission result is ‘failure’, the processor 120 may return to theoperation 703.

According to various embodiments, when returning to the operation 703,the processor 120 may select a messaging service (for example, thesecond messaging service) different from the first selected messagingservice (for example, the first messaging service). The processor 120may perform the operation 705 and operation 707 after selecting thesecond messaging service. At this time, upon performing the operation721 and then returning to the operation 703, the processor 120 mayselect a messaging service (for example, a third messaging service)different from the secondly selected messaging service (for example, thesecond messaging service). The processor 120 may perform the operation705 and operation 707 after selecting the third messaging service. Atthis time, when the operation 721 is performed and there is no otherselectable messaging service, the processor 120 may perform theoperation 723.

According to various embodiments, when returning to the operation 703,the processor 120 may re-determine the first selected messaging service(for example, the first messaging service) according to the user settingor the electronic device 101's setting. For example, when the usersetting corresponds to two times of re-transmission, the processor 120may re-determine the first selected messaging service or anothermessaging service (for example, the second messaging service) based onthe number of times of message transmission failures. That is, theprocessor 120 may count the number of times of message transmissionfailure when the message transmission has failed, and when the messagetransmission failure count does not exceed two times, the processor 120may re-determine the first selected messaging service. Alternatively,when the message transmission failure count exceeds two times, theprocessor 120 may determine another messaging service (for example, thesecond messaging service).

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, in operation 717,the processor 120 may store information on the message which hascompleted the transmission. For example, the processor 120 may store, inthe memory 130, the message transmission history including at least oneof a message content, a counterpart's phone number (or a counterpart'sname), a thread ID corresponding to the counterpart's phone number, amessaging service, a session ID, or a message sending time. Theprocessor 120 may update a session table based on the messagetransmission history. Alternatively, the processor 120 may select afurther messaging service based on the message transmission history.Alternatively, the processor 120 may display a message in theconversation thread based on the message transmission history.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, in operation 719,the processor 120 may display a user interface for the completion oftransmission. For example, the processor 120 may display a messagecontent on a chat window in a conversation thread corresponding to athread ID. According to various embodiments, the processor 120 maydisplay on the chat window whether the counterpart has checked themessage. For example, when the message is transmitted and thecounterpart checks the message, the processor 120 may inform of themessage checking by the counterpart to the user, by displaying ‘Read’,‘Checked’, etc. on the chat window in the conversation thread.Alternatively, when the counterpart does not check the message, theprocessor 120 may allow the number ‘1’ to be written on the messagecontent, and when the counterpart has checked the message, the processor120 may not write the number ‘1’ on the message content.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an example method for determining amessaging service according to various example embodiments.

FIG. 8 illustrates a subroutine of the operation 703 of FIG. 7.Referring to FIG. 8, in operation 801, the processor 120 may determinewhether there is a new message. For example, the processor 120 maydetermine whether a thread ID corresponding to a counterpart's phonenumber of a message being requested to be transmitted in operation 701is stored in a conversation thread table (for example, the conversationthread table 610). When the thread ID corresponding to the counterpart'sphone number is not stored in the conversation thread table, theprocessor 120 may determine that the message being requested to betransmitted is a new message.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, when the messagebeing requested to be transmitted is not a new message, the processor120 may perform an operation 807, and when the message being requestedto be transmitted is a new message, the processor 120 may perform anoperation 803.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, in a case of thenew message, the processor 120 may generate a thread ID corresponding toa counterpart's phone number in operation 803. As described in theabove, one thread ID may be assigned to a single phone number. The phonenumber may be an identification number of the electronic device, and mayinclude at least one of IMSI, TMSI, MIN, MSISDN, IMEI, PIN, or headerfield information of P-Associated-URI. In addition, the phone number mayinclude various embodiments which may be used according to acommunication standard or a service provider's policy. In operation 805,the processor 120 may store thread information on the conversationthread table. The thread information may include a thread ID and acounterpart's phone number corresponding to the thread ID. The processor120 may store, in the conversation thread table, the generated thread IDand a counterpart's phone number corresponding to the generated threadID. The processor 120 may store, in the conversation thread table,thread information corresponding to the new message, and then perform anoperation 807.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, in operation 807,the processor 120 may determine whether the priorities of messagingservices are set. According to various embodiments, the user maypreviously set, in the electronic device 101, the priorities ofmessaging services. The processor 120 may perform an operation 811 whenthe priorities are set in the messaging services, and perform anoperation 813 when the priorities are not set in the messaging service.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, when thepriorities are set in the messaging services, in operation 811, theprocessor 120 may determine a messaging service based on the priorities.For example, when the user has set the priorities in the order of RCS,IM#1, IM#2, and SMS/MMS, the processor 120 may determine the RCS havingthe highest priority as the messaging service at first. Thereafter, whenreturning to operation 811, the processor 120 may determine the secondhighest IM#1 as the messaging service. Thereafter, when returning againto operation 811, the processor 120 may determine the third highest IM#2as the messaging service. Thereafter, when returning again to operation811, the processor 120 may determine the fourth highest SMS/MMS as themessaging service. When returning to the operation 811 even afterdetermining all of the messaging services in which the priorities areset, the processor 120 may arbitrarily determine the messaging service.Alternatively, when returning to the operation 811 even afterdetermining all of the messaging services to which the priorities areset, the processor 120 may determine that there is no selectable othermessaging services.

According to various embodiments, the user may set a different priorityfor each counterpart's phone number. For example, SMS/MMS and IM#1 havethe priority of a messaging service corresponding to a counterpart'sphone number ‘010-1234-5678’, IM#1 and IM#2 have the priority of themessaging service corresponding to a counterpart's phone number‘010-3456-7890’, and RCS and SMS/MMS have the priority of the messagingservice corresponding to a counterpart's phone number ‘02-729-3521’. Inthis case, the processor 120 may determine a messaging service based ona counterpart's phone number for receiving the message and a prioritycorresponding thereto.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, when thepriorities are not set in the messaging services, in operation 813, theprocessor 120 may arbitrarily determine a messaging service. Forexample, the processor 120 may determine a messaging service byconsidering the user usability thereof. For example, the processor 120may determine a messaging service at least partially based on the numberof times the messaging services have been used by the plurality ofusers, the number of times the messaging services have been used by theuser, a message service recently used by the user, a messaging servicerecently used by the user, or a new messaging service. Alternatively,the processor 120 may determine a messaging service based on a conditionset by default to the electronic device 101 being manufactured.Alternatively, the processor 120 may arbitrarily determine one messagingservice among messaging services of a messenger application installed inthe electronic device 101.

FIGS. 9A and 9B are diagrams illustrating an example user interfaceassociated with a messaging service according to various exampleembodiments.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, FIG. 9Aillustrates an example of receiving a message transmission request.Referring to FIG. 9A, the user interface 910 displays a chat window in aconversation thread. When message content and a counterpart's phonenumber are entered into the conversation thread, and then ‘transmissionbutton 911’ is selected, the processor 120 may determine that a messagetransmission request has been made.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, FIG. 9Billustrates an example of setting the priority of the messaging service.Referring to FIG. 9B, the user interface 920 may be a screen in whichthe priority of the messaging service is set. The processor 120 maydisplay a list of multiple messaging services capable of transmittingmessages, and the user may set, in the processor 120, the priority of atleast one messaging service among the displayed list. For example, theuser interface 920 illustrates an example of setting the priorities inthe order of RCS, IM#1, IM#2, and SMS/MMS. That is, it can be seen thatthe RCS has the highest priority, and followed in descending order byIM#1, IM#2, and SMS/MMS. The user has set the priority and then selectsOK button 922 so that the priority setting may be completed.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example method for checking asession ID according to various example embodiments.

FIG. 10 illustrates a subroutine of the operation 709 of FIG. 7.Referring to FIG. 10, in operation 1001, the processor 120 may determinewhether a session ID corresponding to a messaging service determined inoperation 703 exists in a session table (for example, the session table620).

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the processor 120may perform an operation 1003 when the session ID exists in the sessiontable, and perform an operation 1005 when the session ID does not existin the session table.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, in operation 1003,the processor 120 may check a session ID stored in the session table.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, in operation 1005,the processor 120 may request for generation of a session ID to themessage account server 442. The message account server 442 may receivethe session ID generation request, and generate a session ID based on amessaging service for assigning the session ID and an electronic device(for example, a phone number of the electronic device) which made arequest for the generation of the session ID. The message account server442 may store the generated session ID in a database, and transmit thegenerated session ID to the electronic device which made a request forthe generation of the session ID.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, in operation 1007,the processor 120 may receive a session ID from the message accountserver 442 in response to the session ID generation request.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, in operation 1009,the processor 120 may store the received session ID in the sessiontable. The processor 120 may check the session ID stored in the sessiontable.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating an example method for receiving amessage by an electronic device according to various exampleembodiments.

Referring to FIG. 11, in operation 1101, the electronic device 101(e.g., the processor 120) may receive a message. The processor 120 mayreceive the message from the message transmission and reception server441 through the communication interface 170. The processor 120 mayreceive a message including at least one of a message content, acounterpart's phone number, a message service, or a session ID.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, in operation 1103,the processor 120 may acquire session information from the receivedmessage. The session information may include a session ID.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, in operation 1105,the processor 120 may determine whether the acquired session informationexists in a session table (for example, the session table 620). Asdescribed above, a type of a messaging service and a session IDcorresponding to a thread ID may be stored in the session table.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the processor 120may perform an operation 1107 when the acquired session informationexists in the session table, and perform an operation 1113 when theacquired session information does not exist in the session table.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, when the acquiredsession information exists in the session table, in operation 1107, theprocessor 120 may acquire a thread ID corresponding to the acquiredsession information. For example, the processor 120 may acquire, fromthe session table, a thread ID corresponding to the session ID.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, in operation 1109,the processor 120 may display a message on a chat window correspondingto the acquired thread ID. According to various embodiments, theprocessor 120 may execute a messaging service corresponding to thesession ID, and display the message on a chat window corresponding tothe acquired thread ID in the executed messaging service.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, when the acquiredsession information does not exist in the session table, in operation1113, the processor 120 may determine whether conversation counterpartinformation exists in a conversation thread table (for example, theconversation thread table 610). The conversation counterpart informationmay indicate the counterpart's phone number, for example, a phone numberof an electronic device (for example, the first electronic device 410)which has transmitted the message. As described above, conversationcounterpart information corresponding to the thread ID may be stored inthe conversation thread table. The processor 120 may determine whetherthe counterpart's phone number exists in the conversation thread table.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the processor 120may perform an operation 1115 when the conversation counterpartinformation exists in the conversation thread table, and perform anoperation 1117 when the conversation counterpart information does notexist in the conversation thread table.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, when thecounterpart's telephone number is stored in the conversation threadtable, the processor 120 may return to the operation 1107 and acquire athread ID corresponding to a counterpart's phone number from theconversation thread table.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, in operation 1115,the processor 120 may perform a session information generating process.For example, the session information generation process may includeprocesses of: requesting for generation of a session ID to the messageaccounting server 442; receiving the generated session ID from themessage accounting server 442; and storing the received session ID inthe session table. The processor 120 may perform the session informationgeneration process in order to generate a session ID of a messagingservice for the received message. However, the operation 1115 may or maynot be performed.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, when theconversation counterpart information does not exist in the conversationthread table, in operation 1117, the processor 120 may perform a threadinformation generation process. For example, the thread informationgeneration process may include processes of: assigning a correspondingthread ID to the counterpart's phone number; and storing the assignedthread ID in the conversation thread table. The processor 120 mayacquire a thread ID generated by performing the thread informationgeneration process. When performing the operation 1117, the processor120 may return to the operation 1109, and display a message on a chatwindow connected to the acquired thread ID.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, in operation 1119,the processor 120 may perform a session information generating process.For example, the session information generation process may includeprocesses of: requesting for generation of a session ID to the messageaccounting server 442; receiving the generated session ID from themessage accounting server 442; and storing the received session ID inthe session table. However, the operation 1119 may or may not beperformed.

According to various embodiments, in a case of SMS/MMS, a session ID maynot be assigned. Since the SMS/MMS is not an IP-based message, thesession ID may not be assigned thereto. When the messaging service ofthe received message corresponds to the SMS/MMS, the processor 120 maystore a predetermined session ID in the session table. For example, thepredetermined session ID may be “0000000000”. That is, when themessaging service of the received message corresponds to the SMS/MMS,the processor 120 may store a predetermined session ID in the sessiontable without requesting for generation of a session ID.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example network environment forintegrated processing a plurality of messaging services according tovarious example embodiments.

Referring to FIG. 12, the first electronic device 1210 may be anelectronic device of a sender, and may be a device for transmitting amessage through a messenger application. The first electronic device1210 may store a conversation thread table and a session table in amemory (for example, the memory 130). The conversation thread table maystore a thread ID corresponding to a counterpart's phone number (forexample, a phone number of the second electronic device 1220). Thesession table may store a type of a messaging service and a session IDcorresponding to a thread ID. The first electronic device 1210 mayassign one thread ID per counterpart's phone number. The Session ID maybe assigned from the message account server 1230, and one ID may beassigned to one messaging service corresponding to the thread ID.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the secondelectronic device 1220 may be an electronic device of a recipient, andmay be a device for receiving a message through the messengerapplication. The second electronic device 1220 may store a conversationthread table and a session table in a memory (for example, the memory130). The conversation thread table may store a thread ID correspondingto a counterpart's phone number (for example, a phone number of thefirst electronic device 1210). The session table may store a type of amessaging service and a session ID corresponding to the thread ID. Thesecond electronic device 1220 may assign one thread ID per counterpart'sphone number. The session ID may be assigned from the message accountserver 1230, and one ID may be assigned to one messaging servicecorresponding to the thread ID.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the messagetransmission and reception server 1240 may serve to transmit and receivethe message, and may provide a message transmission and receptionfunction, a function of checking whether the message transmission andreception is successful, a function of checking whether the message isreceived by the recipient, and the like. The message account server 1230may serve as a server for managing users who have subscribed to amessaging service, and provide functions such as subscription, accountmanagement, and checking whether the subscription has been made.

For example, the first electronic device 1210 may check whether thereception of a first message 1250 of a first messaging service (forexample, RCS) by a second electronic device 1220, through the messageaccounting server 1230, is possible. When the reception of the firstmessage 1250 by the second electronic device 1220 is possible, the firstelectronic device 1210 may transmit the first message 1250 to the secondelectronic device 1220 through the message transmission and receptionserver 1240.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, when the receptionof the first message 1250 by the second electronic device 1220 is notpossible, the first electronic device 1210 may check whether thereception of a second message 1260 of the second messaging service (forexample, IM#2) by the second electronic device 1220, through the messageaccounting server 1230, is possible. When the reception of the secondmessage 1260 by the second electronic device 1220 is possible, the firstelectronic device 1210 may transmit the second message 1260 to thesecond electronic device 1220 through the message transmission andreception server 1240.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, when the receptionof the second message 1260 by the second electronic device 1220 is notpossible, the first electronic device 1210 may check whether thereception of a third message 1270 of a third messaging service (forexample, SMS/MMS) by the second electronic device 1220, through themessage accounting server 1230, is possible. When the reception of thethird message 1270 by the second electronic device 1220 is possible, thefirst electronic device 1210 may transmit the third message 1270 to thesecond electronic device 1220 through the message transmission andreception server 1240.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, when the receptionof the third message 1260 by the second electronic device 1220 is notpossible, the first electronic device 1210 may check whether thereception of a fourth message 1280 of a fourth messaging service (forexample, IM#1) by the second electronic device 1220, through the messageaccounting server 1230, is possible. When the reception of the fourthmessage 1280 by the second electronic device 1220 is possible, the firstelectronic device 1210 may transmit the fourth message 1280 to thesecond electronic device 1220 through the message transmission andreception server 1240.

According to various embodiments, when a message transmission is notperformed using a first messaging service, the message is re-transmittedusing a second messaging service, so that a cost burden caused by themessage retransmission can be reduced and a seamless messaging serviceover a single messenger application can be provided.

A method for operating an electronic device according to variousembodiments may include: displaying a user interface that provides, toone message thread, a plurality of messaging applications and outgoingand incoming messages associated with a plurality of messaging services;storing, in the memory, a plurality of first identifications (IDs)identifying communication with the external electronic device and/or anaccount associated with the external electronic device, using one ofeach of the plurality of messaging applications and the plurality ofmessaging services; storing, in the memory, at least one second IDidentifying a message thread associated with communication with theexternal electronic device and/or an account associated with theexternal electronic device; receiving a new incoming message using atleast one communication circuit; and selecting a message thread for thenew incoming message at least partially based on at least one of thefirst IDs and the second ID.

The first ID may include a session ID, and the second ID may include athread ID.

The thread ID may be associated with a phone number.

The phone number may include at least one of IMSI, TMSI, MIN, MSISDN,IMEI, PIN, or header field information of P-Associated-URI.

The session ID may be associated with a phone number.

The plurality of messaging services may include two or more of SMS,MIMS, Instant Messaging, and RCS.

The operation method may further include: determining a messagingservice for transmitting an outgoing message, from among the pluralityof messaging services; checking whether a message reception by acounterpart electronic device of a counterpart phone number, which willreceive the outgoing message and which uses the determined messagingservice, is possible; and determining another messaging service when themessage reception using the determined messaging service is notpossible.

The operation method may further include: checking whether thetransmitted outgoing message is received by the counterpart electronicdevice; and determining another messaging service when the transmittedmessage is not received by the counterpart electronic device.

The operation method may further include: determining a messagingservice which will transmit an outgoing message based on a userdetermination method, and the user determination method may beconfigured to receive a messaging service according to the user'sselection when the message transmission is requested, or configured todetermine the messaging service based on the priority previouslydetermined by the user.

The operation method may further include: determining a messagingservice which will transmit an outgoing message based on an automaticdetermination method, and the automatic determination method may beconfigured to arbitrarily select one messaging service or select themessaging service based on a predetermined condition, or determine amessaging service based on the number of times the messaging serviceshave been used by the plurality of users, the number of times themessaging services have been used by the user, a messaging servicerecently used by the user, or a new messaging service.

The operation method may further include: storing a conversation threadtable including a second ID associated with conversation counterpartinformation; acquiring session information from the received messagewhen a message is received from a counterpart electronic device;acquiring the second ID based on the acquired session information; anddisplaying the received message in a message thread corresponding to thesecond ID.

The acquiring of the thread ID may include: when the session informationdoes not exist in the memory, determining whether conversationcounterpart information associated with the counterpart electronicdevice exists in the conversation thread table; and when theconversation counterpart information exists in the conversation threadtable, acquiring a second ID corresponding to conversation counterpartinformation stored in the conversation thread table.

A computer-readable recording media can include a hard disk, a floppydisk, a magnetic media (e.g., a magnetic tape), an optical media (e.g.,a Compact Disc-Read Only Memory (CD-ROM) and/or Digital Versatile Disk(DVD)), a Magneto-Optical Media (e.g., a floptical disk), an internalmemory, etc. An instruction can include a code made by a compiler or acode executable by an interpreter. A module or a program moduleaccording to various example embodiments can further include at leastone or more of the aforementioned constituent elements, or omit some, orfurther include another constituent element. Operations carried out by amodule, a program module or another constituent element according tovarious example embodiments can be executed in a sequential, parallel,repeated or heuristic method, or at least some operations can beexecuted in different order or can be omitted, or another operation canbe added.

The various example embodiments disclosed in the present disclosure anddrawings are provided to aid in explanation of the technical featuresand aid in understanding, and are not intended to limit the scope of thepresent disclosure. Therefore, the scope of the present disclosure isdefined not by the detailed description but by the appended claims, andall differences within the scope will be construed as being included inthe present disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. An electronic device comprising: a display; acommunication module, comprising circuitry, configured to performwireless communication with an external electronic device using one of aplurality of communication protocols; a processor electrically connectedto the display and the communication module; and a memory electricallyconnected to the processor, wherein the memory stores a plurality ofmessaging applications for providing a corresponding plurality ofmessaging services, and the memory stores instructions which, whenexecuted by a processor, cause the processor to perform operationscomprising: displaying a user interface on the display, wherein the userinterface is configured to provide, to one message thread, the pluralityof messaging applications or outgoing and incoming messages associatedwith the plurality of messaging services; storing, in the memory, aplurality of first identifications (IDs) identifying communication withthe external electronic device and/or an account associated with theexternal electronic device, using one of each of the plurality ofmessaging applications and the plurality of messaging services; storing,in the memory, at least one second ID identifying a message threadassociated with communication with the external electronic device and/orthe account associated with the external electronic device; receiving anew incoming message using the communication module; selecting a messagethread for the new incoming message at least partially based on at leastone of the first IDs and the second ID; determining a messaging servicewhich will transmit an outgoing message, from among the plurality ofmessaging services; and checking whether message reception by acounterpart electronic device of a counterpart phone number which willreceive the outgoing message is possible, using the determined messagingservice among the plurality of messaging services.
 2. The electronicdevice of claim 1, wherein the first ID comprises a session ID, and thesecond ID comprises a thread ID.
 3. The electronic device of claim 2,wherein the thread ID is associated with a phone number.
 4. Theelectronic device of claim 3, wherein the phone number comprises atleast one of: International Mobile Station Identity (IMSI), TemporaryMobile Subscriber Identity (TMSI), Mobile Identification Number (MIN),Mobile Station International ISDN Number (MSISDN), International MobileEquipment Identity (IMEI), Personal Identification number (PIN), andheader field information on P-Associated-Uniform Resource Identifiers(URI).
 5. The electronic device of claim 2, wherein the session ID isassociated with a phone number.
 6. The electronic device of claim 1,wherein the plurality of messaging services comprise two or more of:Short Message Service (SMS), Multimedia Message Service (MMS), InstantMessaging (IM), and Rich Communications Services (RCS).
 7. Theelectronic device of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to:determine another messaging service when the message reception using thedetermined messaging service is not possible.
 8. The electronic deviceof claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to: check whether thetransmitted message is received by a counterpart electronic device; anddetermine another messaging service when the transmitted message is notreceived.
 9. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the processor isconfigured to determine the messaging service based on a userdetermination method, and the user determination method is configured toreceive a messaging service based on a received user selection when themessage transmission is requested, or configured to determine themessaging service based on a predetermined priority.
 10. The electronicdevice of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to determine themessaging service based on an automatic determination method, and theautomatic determination method is configured to: arbitrarily select onemessaging service or select the messaging service based on apredetermined condition, and determine a messaging service based on anumber of times the messaging services have been used by the pluralityof users, a number of times the messaging services have been used by theuser, a messaging service recently used by the user, or a new messagingservice.
 11. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein, when a messageis received from a counterpart electronic device, the processor isconfigured to: acquire session information from the received message;acquire a second ID based on the acquired session information; anddisplay the received message on a message thread corresponding to thesecond ID.
 12. An electronic device comprising: a display; acommunication module, comprising circuitry, configured to performwireless communication with an external electronic device using one of aplurality of communication protocols; a processor electrically connectedto the display and the communication module; and a memory electricallyconnected to the processor, wherein the memory stores a plurality ofmessaging applications for providing one of a plurality of messagingservices, and the memory stores instructions which, when executed by aprocessor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:displaying a user interface on the display, wherein the user interfaceis configured to provide, to one message thread, the plurality ofmessaging applications or outgoing and incoming messages associated withthe plurality of messaging services; storing, in the memory, a pluralityof first identifications (IDs) identifying communication with theexternal electronic device and/or an account associated with theexternal electronic device, using one of each of the plurality ofmessaging applications and the plurality of messaging services; storing,in the memory, at least one second ID identifying a message threadassociated with communication with the external electronic device and/orthe account associated with the external electronic device; receiving anew incoming message using the communication module; selecting a messagethread for the new incoming message at least partially based on at leastone of the first IDs and the second ID; wherein, when the sessioninformation does not exist in the memory, the processor is configuredto: determine whether conversation counterpart information associatedwith the counterpart electronic device exists in the conversation threadtable; and acquire a second ID corresponding to the conversationcounterpart information stored in the conversation thread table.
 13. Amethod of operating an electronic device, the method comprising:displaying a user interface that provides, to one message thread, aplurality of messaging applications and outgoing and incoming messagesassociated with a plurality of messaging services; storing, in thememory, a plurality of first identifications (IDs) identifyingcommunication with an external electronic device and/or an accountassociated with the external electronic device, using one of each of theplurality of messaging applications and the plurality of messagingservices; storing, in the memory, at least one second ID identifying amessage thread associated with communication with the externalelectronic device and/or the account associated with the externalelectronic device; receiving a new incoming message; and selecting amessage thread for the new incoming message at least partially based onat least one of the first IDs and the second ID; determining a messagingservice which will transmit an outgoing message, from among theplurality of messaging services; and checking whether message receptionby a counterpart electronic device of a counterpart phone number whichwill receive the outgoing message is possible, using the determinedmessaging service among the plurality of messaging services.
 14. Themethod of claim 13, wherein the first ID comprises a session ID, and thesecond ID comprises a thread ID.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein thethread ID is associated with a phone number.
 16. The method of claim 15,wherein the phone number comprises at least one of: International MobileStation Identity (IMSI), Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity (TMSI),Mobile Identification Number (MIN), Mobile Station International ISDNNumber (MSISDN), International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI),Personal Identification number (PIN), and header field information onP-Associated-Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI).
 17. The method of claim14, wherein the session ID is associated with a phone number.
 18. Themethod of claim 13, wherein the plurality of messaging services comprisetwo or more of Short Message Service (SMS), Multimedia Message Service(MMS), Instant messaging (IM), and Rich Communications Services (RCS).19. The method of claim 13, further comprising: determining anothermessaging service when the message reception using the determinedmessaging service is not possible.
 20. A method of operating anelectronic device, the method comprising: displaying a user interfacethat provides, to one message thread, a plurality of messagingapplications and outgoing and incoming messages associated with aplurality of messaging services; storing, in the memory, a plurality offirst identifications (IDs) identifying communication with the externalelectronic device and/or an account associated with the externalelectronic device, using one of each of the plurality of messagingapplications and the plurality of messaging services; storing, in thememory, at least one second ID identifying a message thread associatedwith communication with the external electronic device and/or theaccount associated with the external electronic device; receiving a newincoming message; selecting a message thread for the new incomingmessage at least partially based on at least one of the first IDs andthe second ID; checking whether the transmitted outgoing message isreceived by a counterpart electronic device; and determining anothermessaging service when the transmitted message is not received by thecounterpart electronic device.